Reference Topic Provisional id-card for a POW?

[Peter J]

This oddity was found in a Panzer wrapper, together with a 5RM-note, a small photo and a small photo of a KC-holder from a newspaper. I assume the last page of a soldbuch has been used and the other side arranged to be a provisional id-card for a POW. The date at the top left corner of the photo reads 10 Mai 1945. Does this sounds plausible?

[hucks216]

I suppose it could be plausible but why wouldn't he of just kept the front cover (and the first page) of the Soldbuch that would of already had a photo & details of him on it? It is the first time I have seen a date stamp like that to authenticate anything as the rest I have seen have been denazified eagle stamps and if he was already a PoW by this stage why isn't it an Allied equivalent? But obviously how can we know for sure what the circumstances were on the day.

At the end of the day it is an item that would be hard to prove or disprove either way and my gut feeling says 60:40 that this is ok.

[Auseklis]

You're aware that the adress above the picture is an internment camp in Sweden?

10. Mai might be the arrival date in Sweden, most probably he was later in 1945 handed over to the soviets.

[Peter J]

Thanks for your input guys.

Huck, I've got no experience in Soldbuch's, but perhaps the space needed for the specifications of his residence fitted better on the last page? Also, Swedes have a tendency of doing things their own way

Auseklis, this photo was also inside the inner pocket. These objects would never survive a journey to USSR (unless it was handed over to Swede before the departure). There is one problem though, I've got doubts about the originality of the wrapper and if it's bad, these items were probably tucked in to increase probability of originality for a novise collector.

[Auseklis]

OK, I see your problem. I'm no expert with uniforms, but the Soldbuch fragment looks OK to me. You may know the newsreel pictures of the handing over of the internees to the soviets? To prevent an uprising, the internees had not been informed what was going on and were just forced onto the ships with what they had on their body. That's why I did not suggest the items have been to russia ever...

[Guest Rick Research]

It does seem odd to have thrown away a complete identity book to keep a single sheet... but bureaucracies are apt to impromptu irrationality, sigh. (Working with Cambodian refugees, I encountered people desperately clutching every piece of paper they had ever had, in case the Dreadful Person With A Typewriter demanded something they could not instantly provide--with consequences I still weep to consider....)

Too bad his unit is not there--that would indicate whether he'd slogged over from northern Finland or decided not to wait around all summer in Norway for repatriation.

I wasn't aware Sweden turned Germans over to the Soviets. Considering that my neutral homeland allowed Wehrmacht troop trains free transit during the war, that would have been really petty after the shooting was over.

[Auseklis]

This guy certainly was evacuated from the courland pocket.

[speedytop]

Hi Rick,

"I wasn't aware Sweden turned Germans over to the Soviets."

Please see here:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltenauslieferung

and here:

http://www.gamlachristianstad.nu/pdf/Rinkaby_web.pdf

Uwe

Edited July 12, 2013 by speedytop